quotes

A handful of readers may have seen this image and title before. That is because it was briefly posted as the jump-off point for another post, which wound up being renamed, “out of the box” – about my dear friends Jon and Kayla and the unique treat of a birthday present they gave me a couple of years back. The box they gave me had, among other treasures, personalized quotes that these friends felt reminded them of me in some way.

Well, in the last few days since re-opening that box, I’ve been particularly inspired by those quotes and some others. I only shared three in the post itself. So I’d like to share with you a few more of these words of wisdom that have been helping me keep my focus this week. In place of a story for today, I hope they will inspire you to write your own stories worth telling.

This first quote is from a famed source, deaf and blind like my amazing and ultra-positive friend, Anindya that I told you about Tuesday:

It’s not what you gather but what you scatter that tells what kind of life you have lived.

~ Helen Keller

I’ve chosen a good assortment of other quotes, below. If one (or more) speaks to you, write it down. It will only take a moment. Then bring it with you throughout your day or week. Remember, real change takes being intentional.

The greatest use of life is to spend it for something that will outlast it.

~ William James (American psychologist and philosopher)

You have not lived a perfect day, even though you have earned your money, unless you have done something for someone who will never be able to repay you.

~ Ruth Smeltzer (I love that I couldn’t find her claim to fame)

A real friend is one who walks in when the rest of the world walks out.

~ Walter Winchell (American news and radio commentator)

The greatest good you can do for another is not just share your riches, but reveal to them their own.

~ Benjamin Disraeli (British Prime Minister and statesman)

Real charity doesn’t care if it’s tax deductible or not.

~ Dan Bennett (comedian and juggler)

Friendship is unnecessary. Like philosophy, like art, it has no survival value; rather it is one of those things that gives value to survival.

~ C.S. Lewis (novelist)

Service is the rent we pay for being. It is the very purpose of life, and not something you do in your spare time.

~ Marian Wright Edelman (children’s rights activist)

Nobody grows old by merely living a number of years. People grow old only by deserting their ideals. Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up interest wrinkles the soul.

~ Douglas MacArthur (American general and field marshal)

Complete possession is proved only by giving. All you are unable to give possesses you.

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Ruth Smeltzer, who lived 1894 to 1950 was an American author and lecturer.

“You can’t live a perfect day without doing something for someone who will never be able to repay you” was an inspirational saying by basketball coach John Wooden (1910-2010), from his book They Call Me Coach (1972). Ruth Smeltzer (1894-1950) was credited with the saying in 1956 and probably used it in her short book, Smeltzerisms (first edition 194?, second edition 1960).

Smeltzer’s saying was a little longer than Wooden’s version:

“You have not lived a perfect day, even though you have earned your money, unless you have done something for someone who will never be able to repay you.”